Occidental Pregnancy

An advice columnist joins the postelection vilification of whites.

By

James Taranto

December 3, 2012

Emily Yoffe, Slate's "Dear Prudence" columnist, has an appalling response to this query, from someone signing himself "Want to Be a Dad":

My wife, who is infertile, and I have recently decided to have children--we'd like eventually to have three--using an egg donor. (We decided against adoption because we would have no biological connection to our children.) We have just settled on this option but it has thrown open a whole new dilemma for me. I am white and my wife is East Asian. Her race isn't a problem for me and I would have had no difficulty raising mixed race children, but frankly, now that I have the choice, I'd prefer my kids to be white. We live in a fairly homogeneously white area and at the end of the day I want my kids to look like me, their cousins, and the kids they'll go to school with. I don't think my wife has ever experienced racism, but I think she might understand my point of view. Then I think I maybe I'm just convincing myself about this. I really could use a second opinion before I broach the subject with her.

Before we get to what's wrong with Yoffe's answer, we thought we'd take a crack at advising the fellow. Here goes:

Dear Mr. Dad--Are you sure about this? Actions speak louder than words, and you did marry a woman of a different race. You could not have reasonably expected such a union to produce other than mixed-race children. In any case, you err when you write that "I have the choice." You are a married man, and this is a choice you and your wife will make together. She may have her own views about the children's racial or ethnic identity, or she may feel hurt and rejected if you tell her, in effect, that you don't want your children to look like her.

Do not broach the subject directly. Instead, draw out her feelings on the matter. Maybe there's no conflict. But if there is, you will have to decide if this is worth hurting the woman you love and possibly jeopardizing your marriage.

The portion of Yoffe's answer that consists of actual practical advice is more or less consistent with our version. She recommends a nonconfrontational approach: "just listen." But she brackets her advice in a political screed, which begins: "Reince Priebus, is that you?" (He's the Republican National Committee chairman.) She goes on: "I can see how increasing the white population might be a good strategy for raising GOP turnout on election day. However, if you're not the chairman of the Republican National Committee . . . then it's good you ran this by me before proposing it to her."

Yoffe goes on to liken her correspondent to "a spokesperson for the Council of Conservative Citizens" (that's a white "racialist" organization), and she concludes by lecturing him that he needs a change of attitude: "Your desire for your future kids to look only like you because you have a pre-Brown v. Board of Education view about their social lives means that before you have children, you need to do a serious reassessment of your assumptions about the world they are going to live in."

In fairness to Yoffe, her correspondent did ask for her opinion. But we doubt he meant about the election. She may be suffering from Pundit Envy, the same condition that led NBC sportscaster Bob Costas to deliver an editorial against the Second Amendment during last night's Cowboys-Eagles game. (That can go both ways, of course. We enjoyed playing advice columnist up above.)

It's not the first time Yoffe has denounced someone seeking her advice for failing to conform to her social and political views. Back in February, we noted that she had delivered a similar upbraiding to a young student who aspired to be a traditional breadwinner husband. Unlike "Want to Be a Dad," who can be faulted for being cavalier about his wife's feelings (or, more constructively, counseled to be considerate of them) the student had done nothing to earn Yoffe's criticism, much less her wrath.

ENLARGE

Yoffe's habit of politicizing her correspondents' personal problems illustrates the way in which today's left has turned illiberal. She cites Brown v. Board of Education, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held racial segregation of schools unconstitutional. A more apt citation would be to Loving v. Virginia, in which the court struck down state laws against interracial marriage.

But while state and local governments have undertaken various efforts to integrate schools, as far as we know no one has ever proposed that exogamy be made compulsory. It is understood--or should be--that decisions about friendship, romance, marriage and children are personal ones, generally none of anybody else's business, even if those decisions reflect racial or other prejudices.

Yoffe recognizes that, but only selectively. In her answer to "Want to Be a Dad," she observes in passing of his wife: "It could be she very much wants an Asian woman." Yoffe makes no judgment about that putative preference, a notable contrast with her scathing denunciation of the husband's preference for a white egg donor. It's the same double standard at the expense of whites that we've noted elsewhere, in the political context, in the aftermath of President Obama's re-election.

The problem "Want to Be a Dad" describes isn't a problem of politics or even of race relations. It's a personal problem, one involving the relationship between two individuals. Which is why he wrote a letter to an advice columnist rather than to the editor.

Queens of Chess The New York Times brings us the latest from the world of chess:

Anna Ushenina, a Ukrainian international master, won the women's world championship on Saturday in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Her victory was a huge upset because she had started the 64-player tournament as the No. 32 seed.

In the final, a four-game match that began on Tuesday, Ushenina beat Antoaneta Stefanova, a Bulgarian grandmaster, who was the world champion from 2004 to 2006. . . .

The tournament began on Nov. 11 with most of the world's top women, including Hou Yifan, the defending champion. (Judit Polgar, the best woman player in history, did not participate because she does not play in events limited to women.)

The tournament is organized by the World Chess Federation, which also runs the World Chess Championship. The latter is open to players of both sexes, and there's no men's-only tournament.

OK, we're puzzled. We understand why there are separate women's athletic leagues: Because of body-size dimorphism, even top female athletes are no match for top male ones in tests of strength and speed. But why the need for a separate chess championship?

They See What They Want to See "Intimate partner violence is two times more likely to occur in two income households, compared to those where only one partner works, a recent study at Sam Houston State University found," announces a university press release:

"When both male and females were employed, the odds of victimization were more than two times higher than when the male was the only breadwinner in the partnership, lending support to the idea that female employment may challenge male authority and power in a relationship," said Franklin and Menaker.

Of course correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation, but one could just as easily assert the findings lend support to the idea that old-fashioned male-headed households are stronger and stabler. But then we suppose that's not the proposition for which Franklin and Menaker were looking to borrow support.

Lather, Rinse . . .

"I repeat: This is a test."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 21, 2000

"I repeat, yet again, [a] Lawrence Summers dictum: 'In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.' "--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Nov. 6, 2003

"I repeat, this is not a test."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times magazine, April 3, 2005

"I repeat: I don't know if Syria can be brought around, and we certainly can't do it at Lebanon's expense."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, July 26, 2006

"I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Aug. 27, 2008

"I repeat: Do not misread this moment."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Sept. 24, 2008

"Because, I repeat, this kind of murderous violence only stops when the village--all the good people in Pakistan, including the community elders and spiritual leaders who want a decent future for their country--declares, as a collective, that those who carry out such murders are shameful unbelievers who will not dance with virgins in heaven but burn in hell."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Dec. 3, 2008

"So I repeat, who is the real tough guy here?"--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Sept. 20, 2009

"I repeat: It may not be possible."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, May 18, 2011

"I repeat: There are cultural roots for pluralism in this region that a new Syrian government could still fall back on--but there's also the opposite."--Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Dec. 2, 2012

Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate "A film review on Friday about the documentary 'Drivers Wanted' incorrectly rendered part of the director's name. He is Joshua Z Weinstein, not Joshua Z. Weinstein."--New York Times, Dec. 1

Homer Nods Based on the numbers we analyzed in Friday's column, male undergraduates are 1.76 times as likely as female ones to participate in intercollegiate sports, and all else being equal, men would account for nearly 64% of intercollegiate athletes if they made up half the student body. We've corrected the item, which originally said 1.6 times and more than 68%. Math is hard.

Three weeks ago, Randy Gourley's attorney filed a lengthy legal document at the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals arguing that the criminal case against her client should be dismissed. Gourley stands charged with misdemeanor theft for attempting to sell a small amount of prescription animal medication on Craigslist, she said.

"Gourley should be immediately set at liberty with the recall of the arrest warrant and dismissal of these groundless charges," wrote Carolyn Barnes, Texas State Bar license No. 01761550.

A close reading of the Nov. 15 filing shows an unusual return address for Barnes: Unit 3B of the Kerrville State Hospital, an inpatient psychiatric facility.

Barnes, who has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 1984, has been a forced patient of the state psychiatric system since mid-2011, when she was found mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She is accused of firing a handgun at a census worker outside her rural Leander home; she contends the incident never occurred.

We don't see the problem here. When you're involved in a legal dispute, don't you want a lawyer who's committed?

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